Added Sugars is a required label nutrient in the 2016 food labeling regulations and, as such, manufacturers have questions about compliance. This blog talks about what to do when your product is an "Added Sugar" as defined by the FDA.
Question: How do I label Added Sugars and Total Sugars if the single-ingredient product I'm selling (maple syrup) is considered by the FDA to be an added sugar?
Answer: The value for Total Sugars would equal the value for Added Sugars and you would need to show both values on the label. To further illustrate this, the label shown here is for 100% maple syrup where the Total Sugar value and the Added Sugar value are both 25g.
The FDA defines Added Sugars as:
Sugars that are either added during the processing of foods or packaged as such and includes sugars (free, mono- and disaccharides), sugars from syrups, and sugars concentrated from fruit or vegetable juices that are in excess of what would be expected from the same volume of 100% fruit or vegetable juice of the same type.
These include:
- Honey
- Molasses
- Corn Sweetener
- Sugar (raw sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar, dextrose, fructose, glucose, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt sugar, trehalose, turbinado, sucrose, galactose)
- Syrup (high fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, crystalline fructose, maple syrup)
- Fruit Juice Concentrates (in some cases*)
*The following conditions exempt fruit or vegetable juice concentrates as Added Sugars:
- If from 100 percent juices sold to consumers (retail)
- If used towards the total juice percentage label declaration (§101.30)
- If used for Brix standardization under §102.33(g)(2)
- If used to formulate the fruit component of jellies, jams, or preserves (§§150.140 and 150.160) or as the fruit component of fruit spreads
Please note: In Genesis R&D, "Total Sugars" and "Added Sugars" are separate data fields. Be sure that both fields are populated for your ingredient so that the correct information is reported on your label.
Learn more: Check out our webinar: The Buzz on FDA's Definition of Added Sugar or download our eBook, Cutting Through Labeling Confusion, to learn about these changes and more!
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